A bank worker sacked after stealing cash from customers’ accounts was later offered a job by a bathroom firm, only to steal again from his new employers.
Adrian Harmer, 40, was jailed for 10 months at Liverpool Crown Court today for two sets of offences – against customers of Barclays bank and against Better Bathrooms.
The court heard his niece was also left feeling betrayed after being questioned by police about stolen cash funnelled into her bank account without her knowledge.
Harmer, of Balmoral Way, Prescot, had pleaded guilty to four counts of theft by employee, five of false accounting and three of fraud at an earlier hearing.
The court heard he was working at offices in Wavertree Technology Park when the first set of offences took place, between March and June 2014.
Edmund Hagarth, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was employed as a bank advisor at Barclays bank and part of his duties included helping customers make payments over the telephone.
“In order to do so they would have to impart personal details and this defendant would have these details as a result of his employment.”
The court heard he authorised four payments totalling £1,400 to a bank account belonging to his niece, who lives in Leeds.
Harmer told the woman he was saving up to buy his wife a surprise gift and needed somewhere to store the money without her knowledge.
A witness statement said she felt betrayed by someone she trusted.
The court heard after the offences were discovered he was sacked from Barclays.
However he managed to get a job at a branch of Better Bathrooms in Leigh on September 22 last year but it was not long before he was offending again.
Mr Hagarth said: “The defendant was employed in the Better Bathrooms after sales department. Essentially he created false customer records for replacement bathroom fixtures and arranged for these items to be delivered to his own address.”
The total value of the stolen items was £817, taken between December 18, 2014 and January 12 this year.
Harmer was eventually arrested and police found a shower light, shower head and mixed tap stored in his garage.
The court heard he had previous convictions for offences of dishonesty including another offence of theft by employee in 2007.
Michael O’Brien, defending, said his client had been suffering mental health problems and was stressed due to his wife’s poor health.
He said: “However he offers no excuse and he is ashamed of himself. He knows he has let himself and his family down, and if he goes to prison today his two young boys will need an explanation about where their dad is. But he accepts he has nobody to blame but himself.”
Mr O’Brien said Better Bathrooms had “taken pity” on Harmer after finding him “down on his luck” and offered him a second chance.
Judge Miss Recorder Bernadette Baxter, sentencing, said although the thefts involved relatively low amounts of money, Harmer’s offending was persistent.
She said: “These were not victimless crimes. Any fraud involving a bank impacts on other customers and theft from a business impacts on the financial security of that business. You also involved your niece, resulting in her being questioned by police.”
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/